Situs Inversus
by Prophetella
Summary: Continuation to a TMNT Tuesday 1k fic on LJ- republished on my dA account as Personal Injury-vengeful Don. If prompted, I will rewrite that to join this platonic TMNT fic here. Retelling a nightmare brings up childhood & newer memories for Don & the guy.


Enjoy the aftermath of Dr Don's Rant! And Viacom can bite my pasty white writer's tan for letting the TMNT not be on TV currently!

The last few days, Donnie had been busy learning how to read an ultrasound. He could have built something much more complex or invasive but it was enough to simply build a better program to interpret what the ultrasound device found for what he wanted. Just to wholly confirm that he and his brothers had identical bloodways and internal organ formation. Well, at least identical enough that the basic first aid he had taught them all would apply. He felt it was high time they all understood a bit more than the basics.

Leo had been studiously avoiding him except for submitting willingly to frosty greetings at meal times and stiltedly correct behavior in training. This left Raphael and Michelangelo to try to get the irate genius to meals or bed on their own. Being that both had as bad or worse bed habits, it left the purple masked ninja well behind on his usual sleep quota by the weekend. Raph had gone in to call his brother away from the computer screen but only found him curled up on his arms next to the keyboard. Since lunch was only sandwiches, he'd just tucked a blanket around the sleeping form and reported the unintended nap to the relieved and understanding family members.

At nineteen, Donatello could still get overly focused on projects that he felt were important to his family. This little project had soared right to the top. Nothing like finding out your brother's had been hiding bodily variations to over-motivate the family medic. At first, when the variations were discovered by helping after Mikey had scalded sensitive areas, Donnie had been able to find sympathy because of the injury and Raph had spat out an apology as soon as he was angrily confronted. Of course, since Leonardo was the one who should understand the kinds of concerns this matter raised, he got the brunt of the blame and anger. Not having apologized and then trying to hope for the genius to miss the obvious when first confronted created the wedge between the two brothers that everyone was doing their best to ignore and work around.

Donnie never truly held a grudge, but this seemed to be something he wasn't letting hold him back for his first effort. Considering their father agreed that the boys had been foolhardy in hiding things, even of such a personal nature, he was not going to expect Donatello to change his mind until he was good and ready. This seemed to be as soon as the purple masked ninja had solved this little problem with massive amounts of data or two days after never. Whatever meant he wouldn't have to think about years of accidents that didn't occur and all the things that could have resulted in horror despite repair efforts. Since Leonardo was definitely insightful enough to understand what hindering the family medic could have caused, he was pathetically accepting of the chilled and chafing responses from his normally cordial brother. For the moment, all Leo could do was enjoy a meal without an added flavoring of guilt from purple edged glares. They'd work this out and he'd come around soon, right? Please, let it be so.

The meal had been pleasant enough with Mikey trying to distract the depressed leader with bizarre conversational tangents every time his eyes had darted to Don's Laboratory Sanctum (as Mikey called it). Raph and Splinter had simply been supportive in their own best ways. This meant the hothead had encouraged his unease with retellings of subtle pranks Don had pulled on his brother's in retaliation for other pranks during their youth. Surely, keeping biological secrets was relatively the same to Donatello. In which case, Raphael planned on being there when Donnie recovered his sense of humor and truly paid Leo back. Splinter had been about to explain exactly why his sons should not be in anticipation for Donatello to self-recover in such a way when a small shout and the clatter of falling furniture diverted everyone from clearing the lunchtable. The three brothers looked confused and made to check on their supposed to be sleeping brother only to be waved back into place by their sensei as the sounds of a violently sick Donatello came to their ears.

"This situation is a breeding ground for sleep disturbances of all types" Splinter explained simply, "though to my knowledge he has not wakened sickened by dreams for many years. I will tend to his needs. Donatello may only become increasingly disquieted by seeing one of you in the current situation." The door to the lab shut firmly with an air of disapproval behind the old rat. The turtles were left passing guilty and dismayed expressions between themselves.

"Shell, we really messed up, huh, guys?" Michelangelo looked more worried than guilty as he scratched at the gauze taped in a long line down the center of his plastron. The bridge between the plates was healing well but itched more than one would expect from a thermos full of hot cocoa. The damages were less embarrassing and irritating than the ramifications of upsetting the brother who tended to all their injuries and repaired his precious games. Leo tugged his hand gently away from the taped edge just above the belt. The red masked turtle made a small noise of disgust and simply shook his head.

"We shouldn'ta let ya talk us into that pact in the first place," Raph glared down his youngest brother as if this was the obvious outcome of such stupidity right from the start. Their leader snorted from his place at the sink rinsing off the last of the dishes. "What? Ya happy to hear you were right all along," he snarled from the table at his favorite target while balling his fists into white knuckled bunches. Leo snorted again but turned with a small smile as he set the last dish to drain.

"I did not want to watch Frankenstein in the first place. We weren't even doing kobudo katas yet so I knew Mikey wouldn't try to pester Donnie after the movie when you swore nobody could just glue pieces of people together. At that age, it's not cowardly to avoid surgical pictures. It's a mark of sanity." Leo handed a towel to his glaring brother and sat down near Mikey at the table. Raph took the hint and began to dry and put away the dishes. The physical activity kept him moving past his anger for the time being despite the ongoing provocation from Leo as he continued to state the obvious.

"Then you both ended up in my room during the next two nights telling me you were certain Donatello would end up becoming a mad scientist." Leo quirked an eye ridge as one plate was placed in the cabinet a little louder than the last one, "Promising to keep Donnie from examining us more than necessary was the only way I got my bed back that whole week. I kept the promise only because you two would never have let me live it down otherwise." The next plate squeaked in protest as Raphael dried it, only a few notes higher than the sound of him gritting his teeth. The orange masked turtle tried to defuse the subject.

"Seriously, Leo! Even Donnie remembers us walking in on him playing comparative anatomy with that biology book!" Mikey mimed holding a book out and looking down as if he was examining his lap. "Us startling him into dropping the book is the entire reason he never opened any door without knocking but I don't think he's gonna care about that anymore, dudes. We are screwed," Mike made a show of thinking about that. "Well, Leo is cause he thought Donnie would like patch me up and get amnesia or something about it all. I don't think you could apologize enough to survive now, heh. But, why'd you apologize so fast, Raphie?" He posed with an exaggeratedly innocent expression knowing he'd redirected the conversation as soon as his hotheaded brother snorted.

"Really?" The hothead scratched around the knot in his mask and hummed at the vigorous jiggle of orange tails. "Actually, all I could think of wuz that next time I crashed my bike, Donnie wouldn' help fix it." He paused to shrug before he continued. "His eyes gotta little odd around th' edges and he looked like he was gonna throttle me when he figured out we all knew but he didn't. It was exactly how I thought Donnie musta looked like in yer Edgar Turtle Poe dream, buddy." It was Leo's turn to snort as Mikey looked confused and Raph tossed the towel on the counter. "An' you, Fearless, are beyond screwed in Donnie-boy's books, ya tried to keep that tight-lipped leader thing up with him and now…" Raph just cackled appreciatively and leered exaggeratedly while nodding.

"Come on guys, you're just blowing it out of proportion!" Leo looked at the two brothers who got him into this fix to begin with and found no sympathy. Mostly they displayed an eager sense of appreciation for impending doom. Leo usually wasn't the one to aggravate Donatello so this level of ire seemed almost unreal. The realization of just how far he had pushed his brother's patience made him slump in the chair. "He's gonna kill me, huh?" The pair of smug and chipper confirmations did nothing to reassure him, as they no doubt had intended. Leo was still trying to plan a strategy to counter a genius intent on fratricide when Splinter appeared with a lidded receptacle balanced at arms distance.

"Please, prepare some soothing tea for your brother and be respectful to his concerns when he appears," unspoken was the inference that their lack of consideration had set this situation into motion. "I will be working with him later tonight at his behest and for now a good bath would be especially soothing," Splinter looked up at the purple biohazard symbol painted on the metal container and chuckled softly at the accuracy. He then turned a stern eye to the three around the table until some water was set to boil. "Perhaps you will better understand your brother's coming requests if you ask him to explain them as one would a fable. His mind seems to be uniquely gifted in crafting such things." At his sons' chorus of 'Hai, Sensei,' he nodded and headed for the sewers where they dumped decayable rubbish.

Chamomile tea was steeping and Splinter had retired with his bath things by the time Donatello came out of his lab. His head was bowed but he seemed to have a smile on him that they hadn't seen in days. He seemed startled by them all just waiting for him around the table but eagerly accepted the cup of tea Mikey offered and sat down at the chair farthest from Leo.

"Um, I managed to finish the program and I have a pretty good idea of how to integrate the sectionals into a full 3d rendering. I'll practice on Splinter tonight, I mean I can't believe I never… wait, where's Sensei?" At Don's obvious upset that he couldn't quickly locate all of his family members, Raph grabbed the genius as he began to get up from the table in search of the oldest member of the family. A rude shove pressed him back down into the chair.

"He's gettin' a bath. That render-stuff sounds great." Obviously, at a loss to really understand what his brother was talking about he backed up gingerly and glanced at Leo for backup. Trying to act as though he hadn't just been trying to anticipate the how and when of Donatello's ire over-coming his restraint, Leo picked up the unvoiced topic. Sometimes being the leader really sucked.

"Sit, drink and tell us your requests. Sensei, said we'd understand better if you told us the fable behind them." For the first time in several days, Donnie didn't immediately glare at Leo, instead opting for an unsettling gaped mouth look. When Mikey nudged him, he shook himself back to a semblance of calm and began to deny anything of the sort.

"No, just talking with him about what I've seen of human medical oddities. Some of that is really uh, gruesome. Maybe I just had more time than I needed to think on that since it really wasn't that hard to improve the interpretation of the signal within the XYZ coordinates…" Mikey's eyes began to glaze over so he just interrupted with the first thing that came to mind.

"So, what's worse than surgery pictures? Cuz that still tops my list of reasons I never read any book you stare at, dude." The elder ninjas around the kitchen table pretended to have no clue why Mike would say that. This immediately put Donnie back on stable ground as he regarded his younger brother with irritation.

"Elephantitis with bedsore complications," he snapped out so that Mike looked a tad greener, "and I'm fine as long as you guys are all there Tuesday for the exam." Donnie sent a quick glare around the room but talked straight to Leo. "I haven't really got anything else on my mind that you want me to share." Raphael gave his older brother a significant glance at that less than reassuring comment.

Mike managed to rally another annoying question to interrupt with, "What's a fable?" This time all three of his brother's were gaping at the youngest. Raphael was the first to get over his shock. "Splinter made us study that book o' the Aesop ones forevar still they were better than tha Confuscious sez stuff."

Mikey squinted thru the candy coated haze of his childhood memories and barely redeemed himself with his happy response. "Oh! That book—it was the first one my comics fit inside; I was never really reading that one too hard. OW!" He also missed out on Raph's low growl that had preceded the swat to the back of his head. He rubbed the spot as the hothead wagged a finger at him still growling.

"That makes all kindsa sense that I really didn' wanna know about yer empty head." The red masked turtle deliberately sat down next to his smartest brother across from Mikey as if it would mean less chance for him to catch stupid. "Don, ya gotta tell me something to get that outta my head or I'm gonna add new injuries over th' current. Jus' readin' comics and then makin' us make different voices for all the animals, too. I betchya the whole reason we got stuck wit' extra Math time, too." Mikey put up his hands in a 'who me?' gesture which fooled none of them but it was Donnie who ducked his head and put a thick finger up as he answered.

"That was entirely my fault. Sensei needed to keep you all busy so I could work on the hard stuff in the back of the book that he couldn't figure out. But, he could only work on the stuff he understood from the book already without it in hand." Raph practically pounced on the remembered annoyances of that one subject week, as Leo wanted to know which problems Donnie had figured out in only one week.

Mikey started snickering as his brother's all carried on about the week of math that would not end and Don had to admit which problems he was working on as they went thru fractions and decimals repeatedly. The youngest had gotten bored after three problems anyways and started drawing heads and arms on the numbers. Splinter had even been attempting to avoid smiling while he corrected the problems and it took him just as long as it took Leo and Raph's full pages. A perfect payout for a much better way to pass the time. Leo broke off from laughing with Don about Raph swearing he'd had dreams of not getting to eat anything but fractions to look at Mikey's grin. Their leader got that considering look in his eye when the enemy thought they knew more than he did and folded his arms across his chest.

"I know you weren't doing all the problems so did you have a comic book hidden then as well, Mikey?" Donatello shushed Raphael as he was insisting that strawberry ice cream counted as two thirds to listen eagerly. Leo would so not let this go anyways. Mikey rolled his eyes at the general sense of expectant accusation.

"I didn't always have a comic. Donnie was doing college math and you two were trying to have more problems done than each other. I just picked a couple I knew I could finish correctly and then used the numbers to doodle comics." Mike ignored Raph's guffaw, "I always had the right answers so Sensei didn't make me redo anything. You're lucky. I think he decided that if I was getting it and you two weren't then maybe it was just time to let Donnie keep that book too and get to studying things you guys could get right." He grinned again at Leo's exasperated snort. "I just know how to conserve my energy so it matters. And I thought we were supposed to find out what Donnie wanted from us and why it got to him so much." As Donatello's face sobered, Mikey used good old little brother wheedling. "You gonna tell us or do I have to ninja your secrets out from ya?" Donnie gave a small, sad laugh with his eyes closed. But, he looked up and glanced at them around the table with a worried expression.

"I guess all I can say is that I don't want any of you to leave the Lair until I am certain that the first aide methods Father and I have taught all of you actually apply." Donnie waved off their startled looks. "Well, I'm fairly certain those will work otherwise tourniquets and applied pressure wouldn't have been good enough so far. Burn treatment would be the same, even treatment for shock but I'm not sure the major circulation and peripheral bloodflow I've mapped out on me is the exact same for you guys." Donnie visibly tried to slow down and stick to easier words before he continued.

"The sonogram will just be a picture you can all study for better severe injury treatment. We've all trained to do damage to humans and some of those methods obviously don't work on us. But, I've never actively looked for weak points inside our shells before. I just don't want them accidentally discovered before I am ready to treat them now that I know the possibility exists. It's just unnerving. Do you understand?" Donnie looked around the table trying to see if each of them really could see what he was getting at. Leo was already nodding his agreement but it was obvious the genius wasn't even trying to convince their leader. His next words singled out his other two brothers.

"No comic book runs. No bar hopping. And just for me, could you both avoid looking for fights?" The orange masked brother squeaked in indignation, preparing to deny he would ever cause such a worry. Donatello simply skewered him with his most threatening glare. "You rescue a kitten and manage to get in a truck and car chase with missile launchers. On Christmas Eve, Mikey, which gives you bonus points to the crazy." Oh, yeah… that. "Anyways you still have bandaging which make you look like an escaped autopsy cadaver. Someone may take the hint and try to make it permanent. Any torso bruising would make a muddy image so the scalding won't matter b-but," pausing awkwardly, the purple masked genius turned in his chair all the way so he faced Raphael completely. He stayed looking at his hands on the half-empty mug instead of his brother. The pause extended as Leo and Mike glanced at each other since there was no way anyone could ever tell Raphael what to do… even for his own good. Donatello just continued to slump in his chair with his hands flexing around the mug until a dark green hand gripped his shoulder gently and gave a small shake.

"Okay, I give. Yah want me in for a while, ya got it… just lemme pad a wall or somethin'. Maybe I'll start putting in places to climb the damn things jus' ta make it more easier." The hothead gave Donnie a level stare as he settled back in his chair, marveling at Don's ability to go from sticking with his first grudge so long to getting better at guilt trips. The turtle had picked up a bunch of new tricks lately. He must really be frantic after all. The quick surrender was worth it as Don's face went from bleak to stunned relief. Leo and Mike stuck with just plain stunned. Raphael squinted as an idea struck him. "Is that why April has enough movies over at their place ta keep Casey in until the end of the month? I watched a bootleg th' other night cause it was just funny watching the people move around in the theater." Don was already nodding and catching up on his breathing, finally ready to keep talking.

"Thank you, Raphael. I probably would have asked a couple days ago but I figured I actually know reliable ways to patch you up so I… didn't really want to impose on April. I just told her to hold off on anything but riding herd on Casey. They'll come down with movies and take out if we want." Leo and Mike nodded agreeably having moved past stunned to dazed. "I, uh, had to convince April not to say anything to you guys when I asked for her help to find someplace to raid to get the ultrasound machine. She offered to board up the tunnels herself and slip food and entertainment thru a slot. I really had no idea she could be scarier than Sensei." Again the tandem nod from the oldest and youngest at the table but the red masked turtle only started to chuckle.

"Ya haven't been listening ta me if'n ya didn' realize she had it in 'er, Donnie-boy! Casey could tell ya some doozies but he's made me swear ta secrecy once or twice." The genius grinned and chuckled with weak relief at not knowing any details. "Ya lost enough sleep over this already and I'd be tryin' to stuff food down ya but I left the door open so we know ya woke up from a real bad'un earlier. Ya said you were gonna tell me your next bad dream, so when ya actually gonna spill?" Don looked a little upset to learn they knew he had gotten sick and started to stammer a bit about not meaning that particular threat. Raph made certain to distract him from the embarrassment by pushing a little.

"I'm listening now but I suggest ya tell us before I finish the soda I'm about ta get because we know I ain't got any patience in general. We got anything to snack on?" He pushed away from the table before his brothers said anything but Mikey happily joined him in getting some treats to put on the table. There were drinks all around with the teapot and two different bowls of snacks on the table by the time Don finally responded to his brothers' requests.

"My dreams are logical just not too forgiving. Too often, many are so close to the truth or what could be true…" Don glanced around at his brothers shyly before admitting the next with a self-depreciating chuckle, "often I can't tell I'm just dreaming. It always made it harder to sit back and not spend the day figuring out how to solve the problem. That's the way my dreams have always been. Something I overlooked or some problem I hadn't realized bothered me and suddenly I have to work to fix it unless I want the dreams to come back. It gets exhausting!" Leo nodded as Raph grimaced and took a pointed sip of his soda but they weren't the ones who spoke up.

"Duuude... Don't you know that sleep is to get _away_ from your problems? That's kinda gruesome." Don blinked at the upset look on his youngest brother's face. He hadn't realized how sleep might be so different for his brother's than for him. Maybe it was simply that his mind was always determined to be learning something or figuring something new out.

"But, the dreams aren't always bad just insightful nightly. This last one caught me out a bit, as I didn't expect the answer at all. I mean, I am always a few steps behind where the dream leads but that nightmare was something else. I wasn't even me… I was Father." They all turned toward the bathroom door and were vaguely surprised that the rat did not make an appearance. Raphael settled back in his chair with a grim look and put the soda can at the end of his reach, specifically not drinking it before waving at Donnie to continue.

"I didn't catch onto that at first. There were just too many hands trying to keep the person on the examining table still. Everyone's hands were bloody as was the injury which was a stick of wood thru the side under the arm." Donnie patted a place along his left side next to his top bridgeline that crossed his plastron. "It had been properly wrapped to keep it immobile and prevent worse bloodloss, even the arm pulled across the torso and wrapped down to keep jostling movement to a minimum. But, everyone was happy when April finally stepped in and began to assess the injury herself. That's when I realized everyone was injured and I recognized all of those injuries except Leo's." Donnie glanced up at Leo as if being apologetic and rubbed his hand across his face then continued without being prompted.

"Yours was a narrow gash that crossed your forehead. Whatever we had fought had piercing weapons and it had nearly skewered your skull. You probably thought you were fine since you already had it cauterized. But, you were a bloody mess and April wouldn't let you do anything but fetch things." At Raph's snort, the purple-edged eyes narrowed and with a vicious glare, he moved on in the explanation. "I couldn't really see your wound; all I could see was the mass of bandaging across one eye. It didn't really look like you had an eye there anymore, Raphael." Don made certain not to look in Mikey's direction as the twitchy turtle was nearly vibrating with nervous tension already. "Mikey had a puncture that looked like it had pierced and shattered the bone in the left humerus. I must have splinted and immobilized it since it was wrapped in the handle leathers of my bō. Same height as where the arm had been missing from the older Michelangelo in that broken place." The genius paused to take a sip of his tea and licked his lips as if he didn't want to have to give credence to what the dream had brought up. Leo stepped into the silence smoothing out the disquiet they all felt.

"Where everything was broken, even our family, because we needed you to be there to finally fight the Shredder." Don nodded but didn't go on, knuckles whitening around the mug. Discussing that place was his least favorite reason to talk about anything to anyone. A low blow that the dream had echoed that place the Ultimate Draco had sent him, where only April continued to believe in hope. The others must have had the idea at the same time but they let Leo ask the question. "Donatello, who was on the table?" Donnie only flinched, so Leo tried pushing again. "There are really only two options. You've mentioned everyone else. But, we'd have sent Casey to get medicines, wouldn't we? If we were surprised on patrol he wouldn't have even been with us at all." Leo's voice dropped as they all watched their gentle brother try to continue. "No wonder you woke up." That made Don's head snap up again and he began shaking his head.

"No, I would have been fine waking up as soon as I saw myself on the table. Being too injured to help any of you with injuries is an old dream… I was expecting it when that guy broke my bō and took a swipe at me with the jagged end the other week. Dreams like that make me come back to the dojo ready to get my shell kicked and hoping to do better. In that dream, I was doing exactly what I expected of myself in that position. Accepting minimal pain meds so I could make someone take down the password to access the file names," His hand disappeared under the table then dropped a small device onto the table from one of the many hiding spots on his belt. It looked like nothing more than a grey portable storage stick to plug into a computer. "The file names are simple enough to understand but it only looks like a complete list of body parts until someone tries to access the file without saying the password Hamato-Shen-Yoshi and if no one says that before the files are opened then it gets rather destructive right before it blows. Shouldn't damage a larger area than my computer station but I wanted to make sure my medical repair plans stayed secret." His voice grew darker with rough emotion and he avoided looking at anyone so his brothers couldn't interrupt his story. But, he wasn't glaring at anyone this time just the file device.

"I really don't want to give anyone ideas on rebuilding us as cyborgs. That would be a bit too like Mikey's sci-fi marathons. Father knows where I've hidden a spare and when to use the password, I just told him. In fact, I haven't even tried to create files on our deeper biology as there is no way to guarantee a perfectly secure database. Not to a level, I would feel comfortable with on a daily basis. Now I'm telling the ones I wrote all the files for because I'd thought these files were complete for years. I had everything written out so April with a little help could work with the designs, but of course, we aren't exactly identical like I thought. I'll be rather thrilled with some printed illustrations to prove I can count on at least some of these plans to prove universal to all of us." Don growled to himself then and attempted to reign in his ire. No actual doctor would have had to put up with this situation! Damn ninja-y brothers but he'd done his ranting already. Time to explain, not snarl at his fellow mutant turtles.

"Regrettably, that particular nightmare made sure to play up on all the things I really hadn't let myself consider. Otherwise, I might have made you all join me in a raid on an MRI machine and do individual scans. Between human and turtle genetics I really have a few options on our internal makeup but both of them should leave the stomach and spleen on the left side of the thoracic cavity." Don glanced up to see all his brothers were leaned forward and waiting for his next words patiently. Regrettably, they weren't getting pushy again. Taking refuge in the science of the narration, he pushed onward.

"Stabilization and delay of removing the intruding object is the correct treatment for approaching wounds to those organs. One doesn't try to cauterize a stomach wound. However, nothing was where it should be as April was looking at um, literally shredded liver." Don took a steadying breath. He was grateful to step away from the memory of the dream with a thick padding of science. "Cauterization on top of a building would have definitely been a better plan than jiggling a patient impaled with a jagged object to the liver all the way back here. That little complication meant I would not be recovering fast, that we would have to attempt to remove the damaged regions of the liver so it could grow back later and use lots of supplies. Which is what April told the Splinter-me in the dream to go get, since fur is a hindrance in internal surg-" Raph interrupted rudely with a harsh sound of disbelief, flinging his arms wide, before pointing his finger and continuing in his rough version of a lecturing tone.

"Okay, ya should have known that was dream then, Donnie! Our whole trainin's based on the parts being where they are supposed ta be—ya only get a kill shot in if ya hit th' right parts. Ya only fight to wound by avoidin' those parts. And organs growing back? C'mon! Tha's all from spending nights watchin' cloning on sci-fi." Raphael sat back smugly and took a loud, long, vaguely gross slurp of his soda. The family medic jutted out his lower jaw and coldly asked if Raph was done, the casual shrug in response made him bare his teeth and glare around the table. Mike and Leo wisely kept quiet.

"For your information, the liver IS the only organ that can grow back if pieces are excised. Secondly, you really think in an ecosphere where we were created that things don't get just as odd with normal species. You're right in that it would most likely be a very useful adaptation for any fighter. Something almost as effective as our shells, if blows to expected damage centers really had very little effect. Of course, that's a bit of an insult to the one in ten thousand people who congenitally have situs inversus; They get to deal with being warned that they are generally not accepted for organ transplant, can have unrecognized illnesses because no one knows to look for problems in the mirror image location and are generally considered bad surgical candidates for doctors unfamiliar to the condition. So, that might hamper any human's interest in fighting once they know." By now, the orange masked turtle was practically miming himself drowning under the flood of words. Donatello's patience snapped. "What, Mikey? Just try to tell me what you actually got out of all that and maybe I'll be happily surprised." Mike suddenly realized he was now on the spot to actually translate Donatello's geek speak and gulped down half his soda before responding.

"Well, in the dream the injury wasn't what we'd expect sooo, we treated it wrong, right?" Mike glanced at Donnie and got a tight nod. "The liver on the wrong side is something that could happen to humans… just it's not a good thing and only very few people have it happen. And their born that way!" Mikey stuffed a handful of chips in his mouth so he might not have to endure doing that again. The surprised looks around the table were unflattering but expectable. "Come on guys, don't ya get it yet… the dream was all about how messed up we could end up just because I made you all promise not to let Donnie examine us." Realizing exactly what he had just let pass unfiltered past his beak, he yelped and cowered from Donnie begging for his life. Luckily, Don was too busy groaning into his hand to do more than flex the other in his direction. Leo and Raph mirrored the hand to face routine although Raph was definitely doing it to stifle chuckles.

"Michelangelo, that makes so much sense in a convoluted 'you must have watched too many horror movies'- way that I really don't want you to explain it any time in the near future. The trauma is just too fresh and I really might decide to inflict some on you just to share. But, when was the last time you all discussed keeping that secret? I really need to know." Furtive and puzzled looks passed between his brothers at the table. Raphael was the only one to actually offer a reply.

"I think it was two days after tha book incident when, y'know, ya finally stopped walking funny. Thinkin' maybe jus' it was better ta not let you look over anything that wasn't y'know… on th' outside. I think we all decided it was too dangerous ta let ya try to look there." The hothead gave a small apologetic shrug as the other two nodded agreement to Donatello. The inevitable reaction crossed the line into spectacular due to the likelihood the first two statements had occurred to the gentle genius before.

"What? I swear I am the ONLY intelligent life form in this room! I pulled a muscle because you three gawking morons startled me right off the bed. It was this huge knot in my thigh. You couldn't have missed it if you all weren't blushing like virgins in a cathouse and avoiding looking below my belt or above my knees the rest of that week. Of course I was walking funny, it Hurt to put weight on my leg or do kicks and sweeps. When Sensei let me back in the dojo, he had to talk me out of bludgeoning you all unconscious. Actually, it took a couple days to get me to that point and that was why we were working on unarmed hand to hand again. You are so lucky one of us manages to be logical despite extreme provocation. You better hope I stick to logical in the dojo for the rest of the week." Having delivered his threat, Don seized the last of the snacks and pointedly poured them all into one bowl, which he kept tucked up against him as he finally started to eat. Mikey started to snicker quietly and Leo followed Raph's elbowed prompt to smack him across the head, which prompted the usual whining.

"OW! That hurts, ya know. I mean it's no thigh knot but still… dudes! I obviously need all the brain cells I can hoard so you all better stop hitting me. But, I was at least right about the dream's lesson, huh, Donnie?" Donatello rolled his eyes at this reminder before pouring himself another mug of tea. He deliberately took his time adding sugar to his mug while his brother's watched and waited for his response. After taking a sip of the fresh mug, he finally answered his annoying brother.

"No, Mikey but then you guys haven't heard the entire dream." He glanced around and confirmed that all of them still wanted to hear the rest of the dream before sighing. "April had you guys help her do the surgery after cleaning up some since fur could be a complication to a surgical field. Splinter-me—well, I ended up working on Mikey's arm injury until Casey arrived with the first batch of antibiotics and extra pain killers to hand out. The surgery was enough of a success that the turtle-me was finally tucked in bed safely sleeping when Leo spiked a fever from some infection resistant to the basic antibiotics. April managed to be sure it was caused by infection deeper in the wound traveling to the brain to cause some kind of light sensitive meningitis before she pretty much fell asleep where she was sitting." The mental image of her sleeping in front of a microscope made him smile before he continued with the dream.

"When Casey and I came back from getting the specific antibiotic that works best for meningitis, Mike's arm was showing signs of poor circulation below the break. The arm was probably a loss after all. Thankfully, some of the premade parts I have back in my lab were itemized so that by the time I could hold a tool there would be a new arm to try out. Raph's eye was badly injured but the files explained perfectly how to preserve some of the undamaged DNA so it could be readied for the cloning process." The sounds of startlement jolted him out of his emotionless retelling so he tried to give a reassuring look to them all.

"I really have no idea how else an eye replacement would work out in the long run without a lot of useful function loss unless it was biological rather than technological in nature. My cloning tank is a horrible energy sucker only meant for small pieces at a time so I have it hidden beneath my bed unplugged. In fact, I've worked really hard to make sure losing me wouldn't cost you guys so much. The files even tell you where to find anything I have ready for use." He finally put the explosive file storing device he had left on the table back into his belt. The explosive properties obviously didn't bother him.

"So, I guess the dream had me pretty lulled into thinking it wasn't worth trying to wake up from while I could see all my real life plans working. It turned out less morbid than I have always thought it must be to have artificial body parts nearly intact and hiding in my room and lab. Just lots days of tending each other and hopeful recovery as I had planned. I even woke up as myself in the dream finally while Casey and Father were on another supply run. But, Casey ended up dragging Splinter back after they tangled with the same thing that attacked us all. His tail had received the same treatment as Mikey's arm and…" Don's voice wavered before he could clear his throat and go on.

"I don't have a file for that. I've completely over-looked prosthetics for Splinter's body type. He admitted to me how he has always directed me towards learning all I could about our bodies and never considered advanced measures for his comfort or care. The ultrasound most likely wouldn't even be effective with dry fur in the way. I'm really ashamed that I forgot Father faces the same risks we do and would have an equal chance to be completely reversed inside. That situs inversus is more of a viable chance than our creation or even how long he has lived considering that he is a rat. I cannot believe I hadn't thought of preparing files so someone else could work on his injuries before that stupid dream!"

Donatello wasn't even paying attention to his surroundings when the gentle hand settled on his shoulder, bringing him back to the present. He looked up into the face of the creature that had taught them all how to be family even before training them as ninja. Splinter was wrapped in a large fuzzy robe they only used to keep them warm if they were sick. It covered more than his usual clothes as it was sized for the turtles but it was clear that he had left his fur wet enough to drip. His tail made lazy motions under the edge of the robe as he smiled down at them all.

"My son, I told you before that my prowess is not in my limbs or tail. It is in my mind and as long as I have that, I will most certainly recover from any possible loss. Losing one of you would be the only wound I truly fear. Have you had enough time to convince your brother's the soundness of yielding to your requests for the time being?" The familiar eyes took in the multiple nods that encircled their kitchen table. Somehow, despite being a sopping wet rat wearing a pastel robe several sizes larger than he should have on, his presence was simply that of a true ninja master who had always worked to share his insight with them. He scratched at the hair upon his chin before it could drip again.

"It is good to see you all finally act with respect for each other in this matter. I am quite certain Donatello would never have found it interesting to play the mad scientist on anyone in our family. Perhaps we should have encouraged him to dismantle Baxter Stockman, as it would have been a fine use of that odious cyborg. I still have dreams about his metal mousers, although, I always feel better if I manage to take out a few dozen before I wake up. They were good exercise." Having reduced the four teenage turtles to slack jawed silence, their Sensei smiled warmly and clapped Donatello on the shell before turning to the refrigerator. "Come, I will bring your sandwich to the lab and you will try to explain to this old rat how a machine can send sounds thru my wet fur and make pictures. The sooner you have your readings, the sooner I can dry off properly. My fur feels heavy and itchy with the water. It is unpleasant to discover I might really be ticklish as well." No one dared to laugh at that last revelation. The coughing fit that suddenly erupted around the table only brought a disgruntled utterance of, "Kids."

* * *

Latin- Situs inversus (also called situs transversus or opposites)- is a true condition that puzzles doctors to this day as to the causes and genetic usefulness. It wouldn't be as common as one in 6,000 to 8,500 babies if it did not have some viable use. PLEASE leave comments on this monster! I finally have the opening of the EXAM day getting written but need motivation to keep it at a level that could be posted on FF! Rest assured... my writing has improved since this fic! -.-


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